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CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The state unveiled a large solar-panel project yesterday at a southern Ohio
prison. Officials say it will save taxpayers $245,000 in annual energy costs, reduce greenhouse
emissions and help train inmates involved in the $1.7 million project as a route to future
jobs.

The 400 panels at Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, about 50 miles south of
Columbus, will be the primary source of hot water and heating in eight cell blocks, the Department
of Rehabilitation and Correction said.

The panels consist of multiple tubes that collect ultraviolet rays and transfer the heat to a
liquid similar to antifreeze that then heats water in large tanks inside the prison. Because they
use ultraviolet rays, the panels work whether it’s cloudy or sunny.

Just as important as the savings are the impact on the environment and the chance to provide job
skills to inmates, warden Mark Hooks said after a rooftop tour of one set of panels on a warm and
sunny day.

“You can’t have rehabilitation if you don’t give guys opportunities,” Hooks said during a
ceremony to award completion certificates to six inmates who finished a training program.

One of those prisoners was Shane Blackburn, 29, of Lucasville, incarcerated for attempted
robbery and theft. He has been offered a job by PH Construction Development once he’s released in a
few months. The Danville, Ind.-based company installed the panels developed by Solar America
Solutions of Indianapolis. PH Construction also provided a letter to a judge overseeing the case of
another inmate, Raymond Lashley, praising his work.

Lashley, 42, of Carrollton in eastern Ohio, said it was impossible to overestimate the value of
being trusted to work on such a project.

“Just having the hope of something better,” said Lashley, serving eight years for assault. “It’s
important to try to show people you can do the right thing.”

Ross Correctional opened in 1987 and has about 2,100 inmates and an annual budget of about $41
million.